The Earthquake
by MacKenzie Creations
Summary: NWZ When an earthquake hits Los Angeles, a secret is revealed. A Zorro/Victoria short story. Please review.


_New World Zorro The Earthquake_

_by: MacKenzie Creations_

**Disclaimer:** This short story is not intended to infringe on any copyrights held by Goodman/Rosen Productions, New World Television, Zorro Productions, the estate of Johnston McCulley or anyone else. I will put the characters back when I'm done playing with them. They will not be as they were when I borrowed them; they will be happier. (Because, I'm not certain of the Spanish language and I don't wish to butcher it, I will write this story entirely in English, even though the show sprinkled Spanish phrases throughout the dialogue.)

**Word Count: 1,345**

**Thanks:** I want to thank J, a good friend of mine from another fandom who challenged me and another friend of ours, Wendy, to write a short story a week in the month of November because we were too busy to write 50,000 for National Novel Writing Month. This is the first of those short stories. So thanks goes out to both of these to ladies for keeping me motivated to write fiction while real life has me extremely busy.

**Beta: **Heather Hakes, Thank you for your help! I don't like to post anything until a Beta looks at it and makes corrections. I do make typos. When I get in a hurry, I'll make other grammar mistakes. LOL Thanks for catching them for me. {{hugs}}

**Summary:** During an Earthquake, Zorro says something to Victoria that only Diego knows. This happens a few months after the end of the series.

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**ZZZZZ**

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Zorro had ridden into town when he had heard about some men causing misfortune for the residents of Los Angeles. The lancers were having trouble rounding the men up and needed help. Victoria watched from the Tavern's porch. Her faithful employee, Pilar, was standing beside her. "Do you ever get to spend time with him?"

Victoria shook her head no, "Not really."

"I think you should ride out with him today."

Victoria turned and looked at Pilar, "What?"

"Maria and I can take care of things here for this evening. It's almost time to close for the afternoon and we can get ready to open for supper." Victoria looked back at the town's hero, her hero and thought about what her friend said. She watched Zorro tie up the last of the troublemakers. As the Alcalde ordered the lancers to arrest Zorro, Zorro easily trapped them in the cartel before they could capture him. He then rode over to Victoria. "Señorita, I'm sorry we don't have much time, before I have to leave."

Pilar nudged her boss and friend and Victoria glanced at her. Pilar nodded once and Victoria turned back to Zorro with a smile and raised her hand. He pulled her up onto Toronado in front of him and they rode off. They were at a secluded mountain range before they stopped. She turned slightly and they kissed.

"We never get to spend time alone," Victoria complained.

"No, we don't," Zorro echoed sadly. "I don't think that the lancers will find us here though."

They dismounted the faithful, black horse and stood overlooking the scenery. Victoria leaned back into his arms. "You always know of the most beautiful places."

"I wasn't expecting to come here today, or I would have packed us a picnic lunch."

"Just being with you is all I need right now." After a few moments of silence, Victoria asked, "How long do you think it will be before you can unmask? The alcalde seems to behaving himself lately."

"Yes, it seems as though DeSoto has changed. But every time I help them capture the real criminals, he still tries to arrest me. Until I receive a full pardon, it's not safe, beloved."

She sighed. "At least he's only chasing you when he sees you. Before, he was making up new taxes and schemes to trap you."

All of a sudden, the earth began to move beneath them. Victoria's face was ashen. She started to hyperventilate. Zorro knew of a cave just a few yards behind them. He picked her up and ran to the opening of the cave. "It's alright, beloved. I'm here you're safe. It's alright."

While Victoria was on her feet now, she still clung to her masked hero. She couldn't stop crying. She had been transported back in time to another earthquake where she, her brothers, and Diego had been playing near a creak. Her brothers had called her a coward in front of Diego and to prove how brave she was, she climbed a tree near the creek. The earthquake had caused her and a huge tree limb to fall. The limb fell on her leg and pinned her down. When the earth stopped moving, her brother immediately ran off. Diego had stayed behind and had tried to move the limb off her leg, but it was too big. To make matters worse, the creek started to rise. She had told Diego to go, but he refused to leave her. They both would have drowned if her brothers hadn't run off to get their fathers for help. While her leg had been broken, it had healed within a couple of months and everything turned out to be fine.

Zorro had also been transported back to that day. He was trying to comfort both himself and his love as he kept saying, "It's alright. I'm here. You're safe. You're not trapped. You're fine. Your leg is fine. Everything is ok. There's no reason to be scared. You're not trapped."

"What? How? How did you know about that? Only one other person in Los Angeles knew just how scared I was that day. Diego promised not to tell anyone."

Zorro looked more like a deer caught in a sudden beam of light than the fox he had named himself after. Victoria slowly reached up to his face. "Diego?" she whispered. "How did I not realize it before? You're my best friend. I should have at least recognized your voice, your eyes, your..."

"Victoria..."

"Don't. Don't deny it. I can't believe it," Victoria said as she slowly removed the mask from his face.

"Victoria,"

"Diego." Victoria said before she finished her sentence with a kiss.

Diego couldn't believe that the love of his life was kissing him without his mask. She loved him, the man of flesh and blood and not the legend after all.

After the kiss had ended, Victoria said, "I need to sit down." She went to the back of the cave and sat down. She had her back on the back wall of the cave and Diego sat next to her. An aftershock caused the cave entrance to be covered up with boulders. Diego tried to move the boulders but couldn't.

"Great. Trapped. Again," Victoria said.

Diego pulled her into his arms and said, "We're together and we will get out." He then whistled and they both heard Toronado's whinny. "Go for help, boy."

"Who is he going to get for help?" Victoria asked.

"Felipe has known since the beginning and my father has known since the day I told you that I was adopting Felipe."

Victoria nodded. Toronado was going to get his father and Felipe. "Diego, I don't want to wait any longer."

"What do you mean?" Diego asked confused.

"I mean, it's been five years. There has to be a way for us to be together." Then an idea came to her. "I know when you take me back to town, we could say that we had an argument and we broke up. I go to my best friend for comfort and soon I fall in love with him. That way, no one suspects Diego as being Zorro and Diego and I are free to get married and start our lives."

Diego smiled, "Do you think you can convince everyone that you no longer love Zorro?"

"I'm sure."

"I think it's worth a try."

Don Alejandro and Felipe did come and free them from the cave. Diego and Victoria's plan worked and they were married by the end of the year. They lived happily ever after.


End file.
